So Patrick Mahomes is about to get “punished”?

And the Kansas City Chiefs are about to be in trouble because they are “over the cap”?

False. And false.

In what amounts to a deceptively nasty trick, some media outlets are following up on the Chiefs’ painful 40-22 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LIX by suggesting that coach Andy Reid and company have more pain coming on the way in the form of “punishment” involving superstar QB Mahomes.

What gives? Free agency begins on March 12, and that happens in conjuction with the start of the NFL business year.

The recent move to franchise tag guard Trey Smith means a cap cost (at least for now) of $24 million for 2025. And so technically, one could say the Chiefs are about $18 million “over the cap.”

The problem with the characterization – especially as it leads to the idea that Mahomes is going to be “punished”?

There is in reality no such thing as being “over the cap.”

Kansas City and all the other 31 teams need to be cap-compliant by March 12. And they will be. We’re not aware of any team doing otherwise.

And so the Chiefs will soon start making a few moves to get them at or below the new cap ceiling of $279.2 million. And the most likely of those moves is yet another bookkeeping transaction that shuffles Mahomes’ money in a way that does nothing to his income …

But does convert cap money in a way that creates room.

This is a highly conventional tool. Kansas City did it with Mahomes’ contract last year, having created $21.6 million with a flip of the switch.

Generally speaking, these moves require no negotiation or even permission from the player. It’s an “automatic” clause in a contract.

It will be used when needed. And being cap-compliant by March 12 will be done.

There will be no such thing as “over the cap” and there will be no Mahomes “punishment” … weird media scare tactics aside.